Improvement in tempering glass



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoE.

GEORGE E. HATCH, OF WEST MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO MERIDEN FLINTGLASS COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN TEMPERING GLASS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 202,544, dated April16, 1878; application filed March 20, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEO. E. HATCH, of West Meriden, in the county of NewHaven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement inTempering Glass; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the same.

This invention relates to an improvement in the method of temperingglass. In the usual method the articles of glass, immediately or verysoon after being formed, are placed on plates in fiheleer andpassedthrough, subjected in such passage to the flame and smoke from thefirewhich produces the heat. This exposure discolors the glass more or less,which necessitates cleaning when the articles are removed from the leer.Again, in such passage the glass is subject to drafts of air, suddenlyvaryin g the temperature, which weakens the glass to a considerableextent, and particularly so in those articles which are to besubsequently cut.

The object of this inventionis to overcome these difflculties; and itconsists in inclosing the glass articles in a box secure from theadmission of air or gases in their passage through the leer, ashereinafter described.

The boxes are made from metal, and of a size according to the work to bedone, usually so that several pieces may be set into each box, and insubstantially the same manner as they are set onto the plates in theleers, being there free to the surrounding atmosphere in the box. Thebox is closed byasuitable cover, fitting sufficient] y tight to preventsmoke from entering the box. These boxes are placed in the leer, andcarried through in the same manner as the plates usually are. The heatfrom the fire heats the box, and consequently the interior of it, to asufficient degree for tempering; but the inclosure prevents the smoke orgases from coming in direct contact with the glass, thereby avoiding theusual discoloration, and also avoiding the direct action of irregularcurrents of air, which are unavoidably admitted every time the leer isopened for the removal of articles; hence the articles come from theleer clean and perfect, avoiding the usual subsequent cleaning, and alsothe loss of many articles in case of cutting.

It is not necessary that the boxes should be passed through the leer. Itwill serve the purpose if they be placed in an oven and remainstationary till the usual heat is attained, it only being essential thatthe articles stand free in the box, so that nothing but the box itselfprevents the direct action of the heat upon the glass; but the leer ispreferable.

I claim The herein-described method of tempering glass, consisting inarranging the glass free in a closed box and subjecting it to the heatdirectly upon the box, but so as to exclude the smoke or gas from thebox, substantially as described.

G-EO. E. HATCH.

Witnesses:

JOHN E. EARLE, H. A. KITSON.

